Feel & Process Practice

Somatic Experiencing: Feel and Process The “Feel and Process” method is a way of intentionally working with our emotional responses to a trigger. This method builds upon basic body scanning techniques to witness and process strong emotions as they arise within the body. It provides a working tool to process emotional turbulence in real time.

When we allow for the energetic weather of our emotions to flow through us, witnessing their presence as an attempt to communicate that something is out of alignment, we allow for the possibility of releasing these emotions with ease while honoring our needs. One way to consider this is that the quicker we process challenging emotions, the quicker they leave our field. The longer we repress them, the longer they stay, sometimes for years—or generations. What we resist persists.

Feel and Process works on separate layers of the body to slow down a fear response in the body that is sending us into a triggered state of urgency.

By isolating different responses and layers of the body, we are able to break down our reaction into more manageable pieces to “get the data” of what is happening, and to allow ourselves to witness any emotions or old wounds that are being activated by whatever current situation is instigating this reaction in us.

Any time our response to a situation is disproportionately heightened, the Feel and Process method can allow us to respectfully honor our emotions while bringing us out of a fear-based reactionary state.

Step 1—Feel in Body (Physical Body): Physically scan the body to notice sensations, note their qualities and where they are living

Step 2--Acknowledge (Mental Body): Recognize any accompanying mind stories, limiting belief systems, or self-judgment. Notice if there are any old memories this emotion is attached to.

Step 3—Accept (Emotional Body): Witness and honor the emotion and what it is try to communicate. Get the data without merging with it.

Grieve and allow any old, repressed emotions and memories to move through you.

Step 4—Act (Energy Body): Get curious. Ask what you needed in the context of your original memory to feel safe. Then: 1. Watch yourself decide to do and say what you needed in that moment, knowing that there are no repercussions.

2. Notice how it feels in your body to respond in alignment with what you needed rather than acting from your fear response.

3. Once you have rewritten this memory, turn attention to the more recent trigger and ask yourself how you can meet that same need in the current situation.

4. Watch yourself do and say what you need to stay aligned, rather than playing out an old fear response. Notice how it feels in your body to respond in a way that honors your truth and personal needs.

Step 5—Release (Awareness Body): As you witness these wounds from a more conscious perspective—observing and rewriting your responses—you begin to allow it to release from you field, neutralizing the charge. From here, decide how to best respond to the situation at hand from a clear, grounded state while honoring your truth.

Recorded Feel and Process Embodied Situational Assessment Meditation Body Scan*These steps are theoretical. The practice is MUCH messier. There are emotions that feel too overwhelming and that we don’t want to accept. Sometimes we can’t process in the current moment. Witness what you can, get curious and return later.